Chapter 60: House

“I’ve divided it into single servings and put them away, so take one out of the freezer and thaw it to eat.”

Leaving those words behind, Ara and the others left my house.

“Why can’t someone that great find love?”

I wondered why someone as great as her couldn’t find love, when she was decent-looking, good at cooking, and had a reasonably good personality.

Her only flaws were that she was a little small-chested, couldn’t spell, and was completely flat-chested, but still.

Thinking such nonsense, I threw myself onto the bed.

Unlike the hospital bed, the excessive cushioning supported my body.

“Haaahㅡ”

Only after burying myself in the bed did I truly feel like I had returned home.

Of course, it was fun having my staff come over and visit, but…

The problem was that I was fundamentally an *ssah.

Insiders are energized by meeting people, but *ssahs like me lose energy when we meet people.

Occasionally, people get upset about this, saying, “Is it so hard and tiring to hang out with me?” but… it’s not a problem like that.

It’s just that being with people requires me to be polite, to read their moods, and to be considerate, so it’s only natural that my energy is drained when I’m paying attention to those things, isn’t it?

In that sense, I don’t think I’ll ever understand the minds of insiders who are energized by meeting people.

Still

Although my body was a little more tired, my heart felt filled with something.

People who broadcast receive attention and support from many people, but that’s only support that comes from beyond the screen.

That’s not to say that my gratitude is lessened, but it’s a completely different realm from the comfort I receive from someone right next to me.

There are things that fill me up here, and there are things that fill me up there… well, that’s how it is.

Lying in bed with my eyes closed, thinking about this and that, I suddenly had a thought.

“…What should I broadcast tomorrow?”

Squeezing out broadcast content wasn’t something that only happened once or twice, but this time it was a little different.

It had been a whole week since I last broadcast, so I felt like I had to do something.

It was the first time I had taken such a long break from broadcasting, so I wondered if I should do something special.

Well, should I buy a cake to celebrate my discharge?

No, I was hospitalized with intestinal bleeding, so I can’t eat cake.

But if I smashed the cake on my face… no, never mind.

Or should I gather the staff and have a discharge celebration… but we did that today.

That’s how it turns out again.

I lay down and thought about it for a long time, but no brilliant ideas came to mind.

“…Let’s just tell hospital stories.”

In the end, I came to that conclusion and fell into a deep sleep after a long time.

The evening streets weren’t crowded, but people were coming and going.

A girl with golden-tipped hair was heading to her room.

“Boss… I wonder if she’s okay?”

Hwangbo Yeon muttered to herself without thinking, still looking around with a blank expression.

Her face was slightly red, perhaps because of the still-cold weather.

‘…What am I doing.’

This time, she only thought to herself, and Yeon quickened her pace.

‘I wonder when boss will get better… she needs to get better so we can all drink together again.’

Yeon was very disappointed with the recent situation.

Due to various circumstances, she had given up on going to college and was studying alone at home, so the only people Yeon knew were the people on Hiro’s side.

So, if Hiro was bedridden, Yeon had virtually no one else to meet or talk to.

At least she’s discharged now, but… it would be a little strange if only the other staff were drinking when the boss couldn’t drink.

‘I hope boss gets better soon.’

Therefore

Yeon wished for the boss’s speedy recovery for purely personal reasons.

For her own drinking and revelry.

【~♩♪♬♬】

‘…A phone call?’

There’s no one who would call me…

Did the boss need something done?

Yeon picked up her phone, thinking that Hiro had called, as if it were obvious, and

“…….”

Frowned when she saw the name of the caller on the phone screen.

[ Sister ]

She didn’t want to answer.

But from the beginning, Yeon wasn’t so heartless as to ignore the call when she knew it had come.

“Haa…”

So, she sighed deeply once and answered the phone, which was still ringing.

“…Hello?”

“Hello? Is this Yeon?”

A gentle woman’s voice came from beyond the phone.

But Yeon’s expression was extremely cold as she listened to that voice.

“What’s the matter…?”

“What’s the matter, can’t a sister call her younger sibling?”

A reasonable argument, as expected.

But Yeon countered her sister’s words head-on.

“You never called when you didn’t have a reason.”

The faint sound of someone clicking their tongue could be heard from beyond the phone.

But she didn’t bother to point it out, pretending not to notice.

She didn’t want to pick a fight by pointing it out.

“Okay, it’s true that I called because I had a reason….”

“What is it?”

“Still, how about being a little more welcoming when your sister calls you?”

“Welcome, so what’s the reason?”

“Sigh, never mind. What can I expect?”

Perhaps because this wasn’t the first time this had happened, Yeon’s sister gave up and said the reason.

“You should come home for the Lunar New Year, how can a child not even contact us to say Happy New Year?”

“I was busy.”

“Too busy to make a single phone call?”

Yeon’s heart stung a little, but as always, she didn’t show any signs of it.

She was just silently listening, hoping that the nagging would end soon.

“Okay, let’s say you can do that to me. Even so, didn’t you have time to call your parents even once?”

“I’ve been living without a sense of the day of the week…”

“Haa… Even so, you should live while checking those things, how can a child be so heartless?”

“What?”

Yeon’s face, which had been silently listening, twisted like a demon.

Yeon had only uttered a single word, but perhaps her sister had guessed Yeon’s condition, as she tried to correct her words in a hurried voice.

“No, Yeon, that’s not what I meantㅡ”

“Are you telling me that I’m heartless right now? With that mouth of yours?”

She looked as if she would almost kill her if she were in front of her.

Yeon’s sister couldn’t say anything more and was just waiting for Yeon to speak.

“So, did you, Mom, Dad, and Sister, who are so full of heart, even show your faces when my great-uncle passed away?”

“We had to participate in an overseas event, so we couldn’t help itㅡ”

“I couldn’t help it either.”

She said so abruptly, as if she didn’t want to hear anymore, and

“So keep that in mind, and f*ck off.”

She hung up the phone.

“….”

Yeon stood blankly for a long time.

“Who’s telling who…”

Yeon muttered to herself again, but her face didn’t turn red.

Perhaps it wasn’t cold.

“…Haa.”

And Yeon

Started walking again.

【Ding-dong】

“…?”

I woke up from a deep sleep at the sudden sound of the doorbell.

“…What time is it? 10 o’clock? I’m not expecting anything….”

I tried to think with my muddled mind, but no matter how much I thought about it, there was no person or thing that would come at this time.

If it was a delivery, they would have just left it in front of the house.

I don’t have a car, so they wouldn’t have come to ask me to move it, and I was sleeping, so they wouldn’t have come because of noise between floors.

…Ding-dong ditch?

【Ding-dong】

I guess not.

If it was ding-dong ditch, they would have done it once and stopped.

Then maybe it’s the landlady?

“Yesㅡ I’m coming. Just a momentㅡ”

Once I got to that point, I quickly threw on some clothes, like I was changing in the military.

My hair was a mess, probably because I had tossed and turned a lot in my sleep, but….

Well, I guess it doesn’t matter?

“Who is it?”

I asked, slightly opening the front door, being careful of a possible intruder.

“…? What is it? Is it really ding-dong ditch?”

Since I couldn’t see anyone through the slightly opened door, I opened the front door completely.

“Oh? Yeon, why are you back?”

“…Boss.”

I was sure everyone had broken up today and gone home, so why was she back?

Did she leave something behind?

“Why, did you leave something?”

I asked Yeon with the most likely reason, and Yeon looked up at me and said.

“I’m home.”

“Huh? Uh-oh?”

Yeon, saying that she was home, naturally came into my house while I was flustered.

And went into my room, where we always gather

“…Yeon?”

“The bed is comfy.”

Occupying my bed and curling up into a ball.

…What is she, a cat?

“Yeon… I was sleeping, and that’s my bed?”

“The bed is comfy.”

“No, not the bed is comfy.”

I wanted to say something more, but

“…Okay, you do you.”

I just gave up.

She must have something going on.

I silently went to the guest room, took out the guest bedding, and returned to my room.

“Are you going to sleep?”

“I was just sleeping until a while ago? I’m still a patient.”

I spread out the bedding on the floor, lay down on it, and covered myself with the blanket.

Then, Yeon, who was looking down at me from the bed, said to me with a slightly sulky face.

“Sleep in the bed.”

“Should Yeon sleep on the floor?”

“No.”

“…I can’t sleep when there’s someone next to me.”

I turned off the lights in the room and closed my eyes.

I felt someone’s presence, but because I was so tired, I quickly fell asleep again.